town car transmission issue

[Brentcon01]

I could use some direction here.....I have a 2004 Town Car with 178,000 miles. Everything has been working great. It has just started to have a transmission issue. When put into drive, it sometimes takes a few seconds to engage. Please tell me I don't need a new one!
Thanks for your help.

 

[slowmkviii]

Have you checked the fluid

 

[Brentcon01]

At the risk of sounding like an idiot, aren't these sealed units that you can't even check?

 

[honestabe]

You can check it, you need to have the car running and the dip stick is in the rear on the left (at least on my 98' that's where it is). You may need to remove the engine cover if you have one.

 

[Brentcon01]

I feel so stupid that I haven't looked, my 02 Thunderbird has a sealed transmission that doesn't even have a dipstick.

 

[Brentcon01]

It did take a small amount of fluid, but the problem persists. Anybody know a good shop in the Monterey area?

 

[honestabe]

Have you ever changed the fluid? It's probably due to be changed. It breaks down from heat over time. You can usually smell when it's burnt up and no good, don't rely on the color on the dipstick because my friend said his was good and bright red and when we dropped his pan it was worst than mine at only 100,000 miles. (I did mine at the same time on my Taurus with about 130,000 miles.)

 

[slowmkviii]

If you change the fluid don't forget the filter.
If it was me I would change the fluid and filter before I took it in.

 

[driller]

Please tell us it's not the original fluid on 178,000 miles.

 

[Brentcon01]

Just bought it, so I don't know if it has ever been done. Thanks, I'll try that.